UCL: Conte Hopes Chelsea Beat Barca With ‘Incredible’ Showing At Camp Nou

Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, says the Blues will try to do the unimaginable by knocking Barcelona out of the Champions League after the Catalan giants forced them to a 1-1 draw in the first leg Round of 16 clash at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

Willian put the Blues ahead but, Lionel Messi equalised 15 minutes from full-time after Andreas Christensen’s erro, and Conte was quick to praise the young Danish defender as one of his best players on the night despite the setback.

“We were close to playing the perfect performance,” Conte said during his post match interview.

“We made one mistake, it is a pity and we are disappointed with the final result.”

It was an incredible performance,” said the Italian.

“We are talking about a very young player. It is great that he is able to play this game with maturity and personality. He was one of the best players tonight.

“It is very difficult to mention one player but I think Christensen played a top game and I was very pleased with his performance.

“We made one mistake, but we know against these opponents and players like Messi, Iniesta and (Luis) Suarez, if you make a mistake you pay.”

Conte also revealed that the second leg in Spain billed for the 14th of March won’t be easy despite trailing by away goals.

“It won’t be easy. We must be realistic because we are talking about Barcelona and they showed they are a really strong and fantastic team.

“But we also showed we are ready to work really hard in defence and have the right feeling when we get the ball to create the chances to score.

“We have to respect the opponent and when you play against Barcelona, you know very well that if you go box-to-box that is crazy. The game could not only be 1-0 but 2-0, or 4-0, 5-0, 6-0.

“We can try to do something incredible in the Nou Camp and we must play an intelligent game – we are not stupid.”

SOURCE; https://www.completesportsnigeria.com/ucl-conte-hopes-chelsea-beat-barca-incredible-showing-camp-nou/